TimG

I think you guys are built with some form of thermal insulation. I'm cold if the water drops below 28 degrees. And, yes, that would be centigrade.

Hi Hans! A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Diving around Stavanger? Sounds chilly!

I appreciate your concerns guys about all that battery charging with the AAs. I’ve done multiple liveaboard trips carrying 32 AA batteries and two 4x battery USB driven AA chargers. No problem. Using the same charger for my dive light’s 4x AA batteries too. But yeah, let’s see what the Retra guys come up with. I just don’t want to carry another charging unit. But each to his own eh? I appreciate what might work for me is not what everyone might want.

Really great to have you with us! A warm welcome!

I can’t say the combination of a round flash tubbe and the AA battery arrangement has caused me any problems at all with the Retra’s I’ve had. I’ve used them for macro, wide-angle and snooting. For snooting I did find it much better to have the 8 battery arrangement but for “usual” macro and wide-angle. 4 batteries usually covered 2 dives without much of an issue. I can’t argue the technical calculations. I can only report my experience as a user who just wants to take quality images.

But not having a custom battery pack has been one of the many advantages, for me, of the Retras. Charging or obtaining AAs is never a problem. Whilst only using 4xAA could at times, be a challenge depending on circumstances, with 8 installed I’ve never had an issue. I struggle to think of a real life scenario where this would be a show stopper of a problem.

Thanks, Massimo What a loss to the community. His book is the seminal guide. RIP indeed.

Oh wow. Where did you see this, Massimo?

Yep, super pics, Mike. The juvenile frogfish and the backlight one especially. Nice job!

I've not used any of the Sony family. However for APS-C sensors, the Tokina 10-17 is for sure the go-to lens for wide-angle shooting. It works for shots of divers on the reef, wrecks (assuming straight lines are not important) and large critters close-in. As you suggest, the Zen 100 works really well and is a very neat package. Add a Kenko 1.4TC and you're good for CFWA. Pelagics might be a bit trickier (although with the 1.4TC that can work). That said, shooting pelagics with a zoom from a distance isn't great either! I bought a 10-24 for those but can't say it made much difference over the Tokina.

Super pic, Chris! That's Up On The Wall stuff.

Hey Kalle! You've sure come to the right place! Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes

I do agree on 2x 12” strobe arms being cumbersome especially when getting the system into the water. In addition I found the arm clamps struggle to hold the arms in place even at depth. I’ve always used 2x 8” plus 2x 5” and found this a good combination both for WA and macro. I bought 2x 12” to get more spread. Tried it a couple of times and gave up. I should put them in the Classifieds! I do think though that Klaus should try using his housing to take skiing pics of the family. We would need to see pics of the expressions on family faces….. just for scientific purposes of course.

I find this too, Andrej - also having moved from Inon Z240 to Retra, initially Pro-X. I find even less of a backscatter issue using the Retra reflector attachment.

Thank you for this, Andrej. We believe it a key ingredient of the forum that members treat each with civility and courtesy. People can disagree but this should be done within those principles. Agree to disagree and move on. Like most people, we enjoy and do not discourage amusing banter. We really expect members - who are adults - to understand and appreciate that and not overstep the line. We do have range of sanctions and have and will use them when necessary. As you will appreciate we do not publicise their use. We really hope members are not being put off by some of the exchanges. But if anyone does feel uncomfortable, please let the moderators know.

Lucky me has that editing privilege, so I've added them....

Gentlemen, whatever temperature strobes are being used, can we lower please the temperature of this discussion? We ask that you keep it civil. If you disagree, fine. Agree to disagree and leave it at that. Other members can read conflicting views and will come to their own conclusions. Moving right on along…..

A really interesting question! I think we've all been there. Back from a trip, really excited about some of the images, cull them ruthlessly, show the "best" to someone else and.... yawn..... A couple of thoughts: Know Your Audience - wonderpus, many macro shots and those "very hard to get this" images, though fascinating to underwater photographers, can often leave a non-expert viewer unimpressed. There is often no wow factor - which, for me, is the key. Hanging upside down, water going up your nose for that shot-of-a-life time is something maybe to remember but it doesn't necessarily create an amazing image for the average viewer. Ditto those super macros images of the eye of [fill in the blank]. There's no pleasing all the folks, all the time! Trying to find an image that two home-sharers agree on is pretty well impossible..... some like strong, colourful, powerful.... others like restful, thoughtful..... You have some lovely images where you've used negative space really well. Those, for me, would be good images to select for display where there is a powerful graphic element and strong and limited colours. But your husband may hate that! For a book? Are you looking to show a range of u/w images from wide-angle to macro; or to demonstrate a clear individual style? Do you want to show the range and variety of life on the reef? Or capture the way you see the scene as a photographer. These produce very different and all very valid approaches.

Hey Chris The more I read this, the more it makes me wonder if thinking about the technology and specifications is getting in the way. How much power is "need" is very hard to define. Unless you have some esoteric requirement, the Retras and the Inons are excellent. Neither (no-ones?) strobe will light the reef. A lot comes down to using the strobes and understanding their capabilities and then playing to those strengths or recognising the weaker areas. Over my years of taking u/w pics, I've had Nikonos, Inon and Retra. And none of them have "not been good enough". The Inons and Retra have proved to be very reliable. The Retras have a terrific range of accessories to help mould a really nice quality of light in the way you might want. Secams have their own issues because of their battery arrangement but, I understand, are maybe more powerful; and there have been many threads about issues with the Sea&Seas. But if I was starting again, I'd be more concerned about the reliability of the product as much as the power output - or even the recycling time: unless, as I say, you have an unusually esoteric requirement.

Wow! Now THAT is how to shoot splits!

Good question! It could be that Invision doesn’t allow use of carat. But we’ll check and if doable, I’ll let you know.

Hi d2b! Welcome aboard. We hope you really enjoy Waterpixels. Were you having a problem with a name on our forum, here? If so, post the name you wanted and we’ll take a look. I’m not aware of any previous issues like that.

That's a really interesting insight, RomiK, Thanks. Those big Matty Smith ports sound brilliant for splits but, yeah, for traveling, nightmare! I did think of one when I was living in Sint Maarten. But then reality kicked in.....

I'd be slightly wary of using an 8-15 unless for splits unless you are happy with that curved look. The limited experience I've had of split shots is, as Chip says, to use the biggest dome possible - I'd say minimum 8"/200mm - but preferably with a rectilinear lens. Messing around to try a project with an aircraft landing in Sint Maarten (I never managed to get the mermaid in the bottom half, dammit), this was shot with the Tokina 10-17. Getting a straight sea line was the devil's own job.

Hi vaidhy Welcome to Waterpixels! We hope yiu really enjoy the forum. Good to have you with us.